Brick By BrickThe days are starting to pile up with commitments and things to do – which is part of the joy and the stress of the season. Saturday was spent at the one day ‘vision & direction’ leadership day for church.

We were presented with a Circle of Discipleship, a youth ministry application of the church-wide acronym S-E-R-V-E (Spiritual Formation, Evangelism, Relationships, Volunteerism, Excellence), a Pyramid of Focus, the 4321 Term Ratio in regards to the youth ministry. All this within a 5 year plan. It was then broken down into sections of focus and our feedback was offered in a variation of “identify strengths/identify weaknesses/identify possible solutions or additions”.

It’s a structure that’s built on some solid principles, but the overwhelming questions that each discussion group I was in eventually centred around was the character, flavour, surprise and flexibility of community & people. So perhaps it was just that I carried my own loud voice into each discussion, but perhaps it is also true that within this structure and picture of tomorrow – there is also a desperate need for breathing spaces. For people who are not followers of Jesus to find places of belonging and peace within our community.

More than anything, I want to remind our new leaders – that 5 year plans are not the key to success. Perhaps sticking at it for 5 years is the way to ‘succeed’ – but a community that didn’t flex, grow, shake and outgrow it’s structure over the space of five years – isn’t really embracing the fullness of their humanity, nor the divinity at work amongst them.

So – here’s to patience and remembering again, that whether you succeed or fail, it’s worth busting out of the starting blocks with good people alongside you. People who make you laugh and bring mirth into your life.